07/11/2005
NEWS STORY
Hayanari Shimoda has been declared fit this morning following his high-speed accident in the A1 race held yesterday at the Eastern Creek Raceway. He has spent the night in the High Dependency Unit of Westmead hospital under the care of the trauma team who discharged him today after confirming all the tests they ran on him were fine.
A1 Team Japan's Team Manager, Malcolm Swetnam said: 'We were concerned about his condition after such a heavy impact, however, the news we received this morning that he was recovering well was just what we wanted to hear.'
A1 Grand Prix's Global Operations Manager, John Wickham, responsible for all the A1 race cars said: 'The massive accident that Hayanari Shimoda suffered proved the strength of the A1 chassis. We have always made driver safety one of the prime concerns of the A1 Grand Prix series and everyone involved in the building of our cars felt yesterday's accident proved the strength of these cars. We are all delighted that he is recovering well.
The 21-year-old who was having his first drive for A1 Team Japan was born in Tokyo and started his racing career in karts at the age of 13. He raced in Formula Renault series and sports cars in Europe and Japan from 2001 to 2004 and when he raced in Le Mans in 2003, he was the youngest driver in the race.